Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) Price Target Cut to $62.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) had its price objective reduced by Piper Sandler from $80.00 to $62.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WFRD. Benchmark reduced their price objective on Weatherford International from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Raymond James lowered Weatherford International from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $73.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on Weatherford International from $92.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Weatherford International has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.75.

Weatherford International Stock Performance

Shares of Weatherford International stock opened at $41.44 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $52.23 and a 200 day moving average of $68.48. Weatherford International has a 12 month low of $36.74 and a 12 month high of $135.00.

Weatherford International (NASDAQ:WFRD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $1.19 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Weatherford International had a net margin of 9.18% and a return on equity of 40.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Weatherford International will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Weatherford International Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. Weatherford International’s payout ratio is 14.88%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Scott C. Weatherholt sold 44,505 shares of Weatherford International stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.17, for a total value of $2,944,895.85. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 125,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,272,507.23. The trade was a 26.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Arunava Mitra sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.57, for a total transaction of $675,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,072 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,423,835.04. This represents a 32.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 87,930 shares of company stock valued at $5,861,718. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Weatherford International

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Weatherford International in the third quarter worth $571,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Weatherford International in the 4th quarter valued at about $546,000. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Weatherford International by 154.7% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 38,993 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,813,000 after purchasing an additional 23,685 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Weatherford International by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 500,005 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,815,000 after purchasing an additional 43,182 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Weatherford International during the fourth quarter worth about $7,215,000. 97.23% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Weatherford International

Weatherford International plc, an energy services company, provides equipment and services for the drilling, evaluation, completion, production, and intervention of oil, geothermal, and natural gas wells worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Drilling and Evaluation; Well Construction and Completions; and Production and Intervention.